Thanks to modern communication channels, recruiters have an opportunity to automate many of their in-house processes. Maintaining databases, finding out how candidates’ interviews went, and qualifying applicants can all be done without the need of an agent with an SMS Survey.
SMS surveys are a fantastic way for recruiters to get to know their candidates and clients better. For candidates, they can assess their current employment preferences; gather feedback on interviews, and rate the services they’ve received from the recruiter. For clients, it’s an opportunity to understand whether you’re putting the right candidates in front of them, and whether your current approach is considered helpful, lazy or bordering on pushy.
These types of questions can be answered by delivering a personalised survey through SMS, which, as the questions can be answered at the recipient’s convenience, is preferable to a phone call.
SMS surveys support straightforward yes/no questions, and 0-10 satisfaction rating scales which are both quick and easy to respond to, and can give recruiters enhanced insight into individuals’ mindsets, and also show trends by grouping responses.
As an example, a Net Promoter Score survey (which asks for a 0-10 likelihood that the recipient would recommend the agency to a friend) gives you a snapshot of your reputation and allows you to act quickly to improve a drop in performance.
Additionally, by allowing candidates and clients to provide more information about a particular response, recruiters have the opportunity to correct a negative impression on an individual level. Both of these tactics help recruitment agencies make better decisions, and ultimately fill more positions with the right candidates.
There are two main types of survey that recruiters can choose from.
- Linear surveys allow a set of questions to be sent chronologically, which is great for collecting data like candidate’s employment preferences or gathering Net Promoter Scores for clients;
- Branched surveys allow a hierarchy of questions to be set up, meaning that the question currently being asked is a consequence of the response to the previous one. This makes them perfect for gathering more specific information like interview feedback.
So what can recruitment agencies use SMS surveys for?
Qualify applicants
There will often be prerequisites for employment opportunities that need to be met by a candidate even before a CV is considered. SMS Surveys are a great way to find out if the candidate can meet these prerequisites. They’re convenient for the recruiter to send and mean a potentially lengthy telephone conversation isn’t needed. Candidates can also discreetly find out if they could be suitable for a position, without feeling too rejected if they’re not.
Maintain an up to date candidate database
Recruiters rely on an up to date candidate database to make sure that their advertised opportunities are filled with the right candidates. Sending an SMS Survey is an easy way to find out a candidate is till on the market, what their salary expectations are, and what type of position they are looking for.
Interview feedback
Finding out how an interview went, both from the candidate and client’s perspective, can take a long time and involve a number of ‘chases’. That’s where SMS Surveys work well; when sent directly after an interview to find out what went well, ask any additional questions, and define what the next stage of the recruitment process will be.
Help employers improve their interview processes
By including questions about the interviewers themselves, which can be fed back to your client at your discretion, employers can take note of any trends that start to develop and make any changes required to improve their potential new employee’s first impression of them and the business.
Like to know more?
If you’re interested to know more about how the SMS Surveys platform can be used to help drive gather more data from candidates in the recruitment sector, please get in contact with our team today on 0345 356 5758 or email us at [email protected].
